THE HUMAN PERSON
3 credits
Patterns 1
A study of the human person that integrates the biological, social, and religious dimensions of human life. Possible topics include freedom and determinism, body and soul, the individual and society, and mortality and immortality.
MORAL INQUIRY AND MORAL CHOICE
3 credits
Patterns 1
An investigation of classic moral theories. Possible topics include virtue and happiness, social justice, moral relativism, and moral obligation. General principles will be applied to concrete moral issues.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A critical examination of the nature of society through the reading and discussion of primary philosophical texts. Themes include: person and society, the foundation of the political order, human rights and law, justice and society, and the natural and the social sciences. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
CURRENT ETHICAL ISSUES
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
An application of ethical principles to present-day moral problems and controversies. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair.
LOVE AND HUMAN SEXUALITY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A philosophical exploration of human love and sexuality. Classical and contemporary writings will be used. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
PERSPECTIVES ON DEATH
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A study of various philosophical strategies for coming to terms with human death. Philosophical views on death applied to problems such as aging and dying, suicide and euthanasia, the medical conquest of death, and definitions of death. Of particular value for students choosing careers in the health professions. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
CRITICAL THINKING
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Aims at developing the skill of analyzing, interpreting, and criticizing arguments from a variety of disciplines. Topics include: clarification of concepts, distinguishing between conclusions and reasons for conclusions, evaluation of arguments, and the recognition of fallacies. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
PHILOSOPHY OF ART
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
An introduction to the philosophy of art with emphasis on the metaphysics of beauty and on art's role in politics and society. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
PHILOSOPHY LOOKS AT FILM
3 credits
Patterns 2 or Concentration Option or
An application of philosophical perspectives to the study of film, with special attention to international cinema. The course will approach film either as a unique form of art or as a unique medium for engaging traditional philosophical questions. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair.
PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES TO GOD
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A study of philosophical positions about the existence and nature of God. Themes discussed include various concepts of God; the possibility of proof for the existence of God; and the philosophical dimensions of the religious experience. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
TOPICS IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
3 credits
Patterns 2 or Concentration Option or
This course will study the major philosophers and philosophies of the East through a focus on one or more of the following philosophical traditions: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Buddhist, or Islamic. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair.
WORK AND CULTURE
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A philosophical consideration of the relationship between work and other dimensions of human life. Topics include: work and society, work and rationality, work and morality, work and play, work and creativity, and work and alienation. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or permission of the Department Chair
SPECIAL TOPICS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Some recent topics have included:
- Philosophy and Literature
- Philosophy and Film
- Christian Ethics
- Tao and Zen
- Art and Fascism
Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A critical history of thought in North America, tracing its gradual transformation from 17th-century Puritanism to 20th-century pragmatism. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair.
ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
The course is designed to provide the student with an introduction to a wide range of philosophical issues and problems that attach to the attribution of moral concern to the environment. Topics may include deep ecology, ecofeminism, social ecology, social action, and the moral standing of animals as well as other living beings. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A study of some of the principal viewpoints about historical knowledge and historical development. Problems discussed include: subjectivity and objectivity, causality and explanation, and perspective and relativity in history. The great schemes of historical interpretation are also considered. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS AQUINAS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A study of the philosophical problems that arose in the Middle Ages and of the solutions proposed by Thomas Aquinas. Texts principally from the
Summa Theologiae. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
EXISTENTIALISM
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A critical study of existentialist thinkers and themes from the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics may include absurdity, nihilism, subjectivity, freedom, authenticity, and the Other. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
PROBLEMS OF KNOWLEDGE
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A systematic investigation into the sources, limits, and nature of knowledge. Topics include: meaning and its relation to truth of statements; nature and criteria of truth; and the role of observation, perspective, and conceptualization in the justification of knowledge claims. Prerequisites: PHL 151or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
METAPHYSICS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A study of the ways in which major philosophers have answered questions about the basic nature of reality. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
The course looks at the practice of science, its aims, its methods, and its relation to society. Possible topics include the justification of scientific findings, the nature of scientific progress, the various branches of science, morally responsible scientific practice, and science and religion. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
An introduction to formal logic, including truth-functional and quantificational logic. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: THE ANCIENT WORLD
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy from the pre-Socratics through Plotinus. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Late antique and medieval philosophy, concentrating on St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: EARLY MODERN WORLD
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Seventeenth- and 18th-century philosophy is studied with a concentration on the rationalists, the empiricists, and Kant. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A comparative study of trends in continental and Anglo-American philosophy. These may include linguistic analysis, phenomenology, deconstruction, post-modernism, neo-pragmatism, and critical theory. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
An in-depth study of a single major thinker from the philosophical tradition. Emphasis on the critical reading of texts, although attention will be given to the historical setting of the thinker's work. Previous thinkers have included St. Augustine, Karl Marx, Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Pope John Paul II, and Michel Foucault. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
GENDER, BODY, AND CULTURE
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
A philosophical analysis of social and cultural practices that construct gender identity. Strategies of resistance to dominant modes of embodiment and concepts of sexual difference will also be explored. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
MINDS, BRAINS, AND ZOMBIES
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
An examination of human consciousness. Topics include the relation between the mind and the brain, the possibility of building conscious machines, the mental life of animals, and conceptual puzzles posed by zombies. Prerequisites: PHL 151, PHL 152, HON 131, or permission of the Department Chair.
BUSINESS ETHICS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Business practices evaluated in the light of ethical principles. Special concern given to moral dimensions of management decision making and to the ethical problems of consumerism and government control. Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
SPECIAL TOPICS
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 2 or
Recent topics have included:
- Revolution to Romanticism
- Philosophy of Islam
- Memory, Identity, and the Self
- Evolution and Creation
Prerequisites: PHL 151 or 152 or HON 131 or permission of the Department Chair
SPECIAL TOPICS
3 credits
SEMINAR
3 credits
An investigation of a philosophical theme chosen each year by the department. Students will write a paper on the theme and present their work to the seminar. The seminar has for its purpose the integration of previous philosophical study. Required of philosophy majors; open to others with approval of the Department Chair.
